Brian Baker is a punk-rock guitar player from the Washington D.C. area. He got his start in Minor Threat and has played in countless bands since that time; Government Issue, Dag Nasty, Junkyard, Bad Religion, Foxhall Stacks, Fake Names, and more. He has toured all over the world, primarily with Bad Religion. In his travels, Brian took to walking around, occasionally snapping photos on his iPhone. No fancy camera, no film, nothing more than an ordinary phone. At some point, he was encouraged to consider doing a photo book. He scoffed at the idea initially, but eventually was convinced. The result is simply entitled The Road.
I was fortunate enough to be able to attend a book signing event and discussion about the book, with Brian of course, but also Ian MacKaye of Minor Threat and Fugazi fame. The event was held at the Martin Luther King Library in D.C. on November 9th. Brian and Ian swapped some stories about their days in Minor Threat together, and Brian showed a handful of photos from the book and explained a bit about each one. He explained how the book came to be and of course he signed books afterward. The first thing you should know about the book is that Brian had a couple of simple, self-imposed rules. Every photo had to be taken by him, and every photo had to be taken on a cell phone. He did come across one photo of his first guitar & amp that he had taken as a young boy, but it had been taken with a film camera. No worries, he simply took a picture of the well-worn photo with his phone and used that. Another intentional aspect of the book is that it has no captions, no explanations, no dates, no locations, nothing. The photos are meant to stand alone and be thought-provoking. The meaning of the photo is left up to the individual viewing it. He compared that approach with song lyrics, saying that he felt that the listener should interpret the meaning of the lyrics for themselves. Often, he said, he found that the meaning people found in his song lyrics are better than what he inteneded when he wrote them. So he wanted to apply that to his photos as well.
The photos in the book are widely varied. I don’t want to describe any of them here, or identify my personal favorites. I will show two of the photos here because they are previewed on Amazon anyway, so I’m not revealing anything.
There are guitar photos, naturally, but most of the photos are not even music-related. I find the book to be excellent.
As far as the book signing and discussion, I am thrilled to have been there. Both Ian and Brian are very funny guys. And of course, they have amazing and fun stories to tell. I could have listened to them for an entire day, but the hour and a half that I got was well worth the drive. The rather large auditorium for the event was filled to capacity. After the talk, I waited in line at a table in the lobby and was rewarded with a few minutes to talk to Brian, who was more than happy to sign not only my book, but several of my prized records as well. After that, I checked to see if Ian was still around and I was very lucky to find him alone in the auditorium, just before he left. He added a signature to my Minor Threat 45 and chatted for a few minutes.
IAN MACKAYE AND BRIAN BAKER
SOME SIGNED VINYL AND THE BOOK
I would recommend the book to anyone really, but I will admit that being a huge Brian Baker fan, and having heard his discussion about the book undoubtedly makes it more appealing to me than it might be to most people. Check it out if you get a chance.
JCE, or John to his friends, is a lifelong music fan living in rural central Virginia. From his first plastic record player, to his transistor radio, to his years immersed in the music scenes of D.C., and then Charlottesville, he has never stopped pursuing new music. He is 62 years old, married 34 years and has a grown daughter. He is retired and life is good.